Anxiety vs. Prayer

Beth Moore and Travis Cottrell have hit Omaha - like a windstorm! They opened up their hearts to God, asked us to do the same, the Holy Spirit blew in and parted our hair down the middle of our heads. Praise God!

I'm sorry that Travis Cottrell is the worship leader for Beth Moore for only one reason. He reaches out to tens of thousands of women and there are a lot of men out there who would worship well under his leadership. This young man (I can say that, I'm much older than he is) is amazing in this leadership role. But, you know what? I actually ended up crying while he was praying. Now ... the buddies in my group were crying through the entire evening. Gotta love it! I certainly did.

You know, there are a few amazing songs that I have sung while leading worship. It's amazing how God uses these things to remind me of His glory and grace. I have been in love with the song "In the Sanctuary" by Kurt Carr for many years. I tried to find a way to make it happen and then finally, it did a couple of years ago. GLORY! When the opening chords began playing tonight, I just wanted to weep. Thank you, Lord.

Tonight Beth spoke on anxiety - and it's antithesis - prayer. She used the passage Philippians 4:4-13. Anxiety destroys us in so many ways. However, prayer focuses our minds on the One that can take care of all of the things we worry about. Vs. 6 says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

There is another antithetical statement there - Don't be anxious about ANYTHING, but in EVERYTHING, by prayer ... present your requests to god. I don't think I've ever really considered the power of that statement. She emphasized that when God says 'everything' in this statement, He means it. EVERYTHING! There is nothing that God can't deal with. Oh, I know in my head that it is true, but somehow I have difficulty just anchoring that information into my heart and soul! Everything! My finances, my family, my work, my stresses ... everything that I worry about and am anxious about - God's got it.

I've said those words over and over ... but, tonight as I stood there while we worshipped at the end of the evening, I realized that I spend much too much time trying to deal with everything myself.

Colossians 3:15 - Let the peace of Christ RULE in your hearts. When I make Christ the ruler of my heart and of my anxiety. When I quit trying to run my own life and allow Him to surround my 'stuff' with His crown ... His peace will reign.

You see, this is why I love Beth Moore. She takes the most obvious information and transforms it into words that stir my soul, my heart and ... my mind. I'm thankful that she allows her brokenness and her humanity to come before the throne and be real before our God. Through all that she learns, she translates the information for us.

It occurs to me - that much like my parents, she isn't going to leave this earth without dragging a lot of us along with her! Praise the Lord!